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"Revit can't do that....." series part 1

I'll be posting in the coming weeks a few samples of geometry that is easy to create in other 3d software, but extremely difficult, if not impossible to do in Revit. These posts are not intended to bash Revit, but to discuss workarounds and discover new possibilities.

First example: the glazed roof of Britisch Museum in London done by Foster and Partners.

In Autocad (see attachment) or rhino, you can create this roof by lofting 3 profiles. Doing the same procedure in Revit will end up in an error. So you will need to move the inner profile above the second profile before moving the inner profile back to its original position. However, even so, you get an undesirable shape (see attachment).

Re: "Revit can't do that....." series part 1

I know a guy who helped design that roof. The initial model was very basic, full of straight lines. The guy I know then wrote custom software to 'relax' the shape whilst maintaining an even structural load. Revit can't do that, but neither can anything else.

Re: "Revit can't do that....." series part 1

Tom,

Any idea what software WAS used on that roof? Doesn't Foster use Bentley?

Could that roof shape be done in Revit by creating two or more separate pieces
and then joining geometry, and mirrorring-- instead of trying to force it to do a multiple-profile loft, which it apparently can't do?

Re: "Revit can't do that....." series part 1

How to do it in two minutes? Import the CAD Model in to a Mass Family.

Dont get me wrong, i LOVE AutoCAD and all of its modeling tools, but frankly.... Were talking about OTHER workflows that mean more than one platform. Modeled in Rhino? Getting detailed elsewhere, i presume. Modeled in AutoCAD? I GUESS you can detail it there, if you want to.

Id just assume use the CAD Model in a mass family, and then use Revit for the rest. But yeah, those modeling tools sure would be nice with the power of Revit behind them.

Re: "Revit can't do that....." series part 1

Since RAC2010, the option to import 3d geometry from Autocad or other software has been a lot smoother. You can divide the surface, you can snap to intersection points on the imported geometry. You can even extrude the surfaces from the imported geometry. These things couldn't be done in previous releases, what makes the workflow with other modelersa now a viable option.

But if you decide to do it in Revit, then the question is how. Creating separate pieces as Cliff suggested is an option.